Naval base a terror target as two arrested in Australia operation

The story Operation Appleby: NSW Police arrest two men as part of investigation into terrorism plot first appeared on The Sydney Morning Herald.

Police arrested Mohammed Almaouie, 20, and Abdullah Salihy, 24, at homes in Bankstown and Merrylands on Wednesday morning as part of Operation Appleby.

The 20-year-old arrestee was focused earlier in December raids when five people were charged with conspiring to attack the AFP headquarters. The counter-terrorism raids are part of an ongoing police operation that has been focusing on a group of about 20 young men who police allege are committed to carrying out a terrorist attack in Australia.

The documents were seized in December 2014 during raids on several homes, including that of outspoken extremist Sulayman Khalid, who walked off the set of SBS’s Insight program.

The arrests bring the total number of people picked up since the scheme was uncovered past year, to 13.

Ms Burn said the latest arrests were further proof of the success of Operation Appleby, which in September 2014 netted one arrest from 24 search warrants and “stopped something from happening”.

The group had been considering an attack on government buildings, including a naval base to the east of the Sydney Opera House, New South Wales state police deputy commissioner Catherine Burn said Wednesday in a briefing to reporters.

One of the two men arrested will be charged with making a document likely to facilitate a terrorist attack, while the second will be charged with conspiracy to do an act in preparation to commit a terrorist act.

Raids were said to have occurred in the western Sydney suburbs of Bankstown and Merrylands.

Both men appeared before Parramatta Local Court where bail was formally refused.

It is understood the arrests are related to an alleged plot to drive explosives into Sydney’s Garden Island precinct on New Year’s Eve last year.

“There is no current threat, there is no pending threat”, said Ms. Burn.